Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has finally responded to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s request to work with state leaders to coordinate the deployment of National Guard troops.
His answer: fat-shaming the governor.
Pritzker waited all day Saturday to hear from Hegseth before hundreds of troops were federalized and deployed to Illinois, but the defense secretary was more focused on doing push-ups at a Navy-Air Force football game, the governor told the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this week.
Pritzker was still in the dark on the administration’s plans when President Donald Trump ordered the deployment, he said.
“Pete Hegseth was busy ignoring his job and doing pushups as part of a show for the Guinness Book of World Records while Illinoisans are being invaded by Trump’s military troops,” he said Wednesday in a post on X that linked to the Sun-Times piece.
“Governor, you might try a push-up or two…” Hegseth replied. “(In the meantime, our troops will do the job you refuse to do.)”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Pritzker for comment.
Trump and his officials have claimed that Chicago, Portland, and other blue cities—where peaceful protests have been held in opposition to federal immigration raids—are “under siege,” despite an objective lack of riots or other violent unrest.
Instead, Pritzker and other Democratic leaders say that federal troops are the ones stoking tensions by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at peaceful protesters. The goal, according to Pritzker, is to manufacture a crisis to “justify” sending in troops.
Chicago and Illinois filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that the Trump administration’s order federalizing Illinois National Guard troops was “illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional,” triggering a bizarre and baseless rant from the president comparing “war zone” Chicago to Afghanistan.
In the meantime, Hegseth is not the first administration official to allude to Pritzker’s weight in an apparent attempt to deflect from concerns about the Trump administration waging war on Democratic states and politicians.
Early Wednesday morning, Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social, “Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers! Governor Pritzker also!”
Pritzker responded by pointing out during an MSNBC interview that Trump is a convicted felon.
“I got to say, this guy’s unhinged. He’s insecure. He’s a wannabe dictator. And there’s one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump: If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me,” he added, extending his wrists out to the camera as though submitting himself to an arrest.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded by saying, “Well there sure is a lot of him!”
The irony is that Trump’s own health and fitness have been the subject of scrutiny for months.
The president has suffered from large swollen ankles and a giant mystery bruise on his right hand that he has taken to smearing in makeup, hiding under tables, and covering with his left hand.
After Hegseth called in hundreds of top military leaders last month to lecture them about how the military will no longer accept “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom trolled the White House with a photo of the commander-in-chief’s less-than-rock-hard physique.
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